Economic growth in the region does not guarantee decrease in inequality.

Presented on July 24 by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the 2014 edition of the Human Development Report, entitled “Sustaining Human Progress: Reducing Vulnerabilities and Building Resilience,” discusses two topics that are interconnected and are important to ensure progress in human development: vulnerability and resilience.

“This report argues for the need to sustainably improve the skills of individuals and societies with the goal of reducing these persistent vulnerabilities, many of which are structural and linked to the cycle of life,” maintains the UNDP. “Progress must be focused on the promotion of human development resiliency. Although there is a broad debate regarding the meaning of resiliency, we focus on human resilience which seeks to guarantee the soundness of current and future options for people and their ability to handle and adapt to adverse events.”

Despite the achievements in human development matters, Latin America and the Caribbean continue to be the region of the world with the highest income inequality.

“Inequality reduces the pace of human development and can even bring it to a halt. Although overall inequality in the HDI [Human Development Index], has recently declined, it is not sufficient to offset growing income disparities with progress in health and education. To tackle vulnerability and sustain recent achievements, it is crucial to reduce inequality in all dimensions of human development,” the report says.

In 2010 the UNDP introduced the inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI), which calculates how the progress of each country is distributed among the three dimensions of the HDI: life expectancy, years of schooling and income. According to the IHDI, Latin America and the Caribbean loses 25 percent of human development due to inequality.

“Inequality affects not only those at the poorest end of the distribution, but it affects the entire society as a whole — as it threatens social cohesion and hampers social mobility, fuelling social tensions that can lead to civil unrest and political instability. Large income disparities can even undermine democratic values if wealthy individuals influence political agendas (for example, by securing tax breaks for top income earners and cutbacks in social services) or try to shape social perceptions (through the media),” the report notes.

According to the UNDP, the poorest two-thirds of the world’s population receive less than 13 percent of world’s income, while the richest 1 percent receives almost 15 percent.

“Beyond income, about half the world’s wealth is owned by the richest 1 percent of the population, with the richest 85 people collectively holding the same wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population. Globalization, technological progress, deregulation of labour markets and misguided macroeconomic policies are likely to create and sustain these large gaps in income and wealth,” assures. —Latinamerica Press

LATIN AMERICA/ THE CARIBBEAN

2014 Human Development Index (HDI)

Country

Rank

HDI*

HDI-D**

Chile

41

0.822

0.661

Cuba

44

0.815

n.a.

Uruguay

50

0.790

0.662

Bahamas

51

0.789

0.676

Barbados

59

0.776

n.a.

Antigua and Barbuda

61

0.774

n.a.

Trinidad and Tobago

64

0.766

0.649

Panama

65

0.765

0.596

Venezuela

67

0.764

0.613

Costa Rica

68

0.763

0.611

Mexico

71

0.756

0.583

Saint Kitts and Nevis

73

0.750

n.a.

Brazil

79

0.744

0.542

Grenada

79

0.744

n.a.

Peru

82

0.737

0.562

Belize

84

0.732

n.a.

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

91

0.719

n.a.

Dominica

93

0.717

n.a.

Jamaica

96

0.715

0.579

Saint Lucia

97

0.714

n.a.

Colombia

98

0.711

0.521

Ecuador

98

0.711

0.549

Suriname

100

0.705

0.534

Dominican Republic

102

0.700

0.535

Paraguay

111

0.676

0.513

Bolivia

113

0.667

0.470

El Salvador

115

0.662

0.485

Guyana

121

0.638

0.522

Guatemala

125

0.628

0.422

Honduras

129

0.617

0.418

Nicaragua

132

0.614

0.452

Haiti

168

0.471

0.285

*Measures the average advances in health, education and income; values range from 1 to 0, with 1 being the highest HDI.**HDI adjusted for inequality.